Week 2 Buy Low Candidates

Trading with your league mates is one of the most fun aspects of fantasy football. Your players are your assets, and you’re trying to set your team up best for the rest of the season by bartering. Every week we should try to identify which players underperformed, and which owners in your league are on tilt after that bad performance. The rule is simple: buy low, and sell high. No one should be off the table. After Kareem Hunt’s giant Week 1, we can’t expect that to be reproducible on a weekly basis. I wouldn’t trade for him, because his value is at its highest point. I would try to get some assets back for him though if I can get better value. For example, if I get back a Devonta Freeman + a solid WR2 in Michael Crabtree, that might be worth it. At the end of the year, Freeman and Hunt will probably have very similar points, and I’m getting Crab for free. It’s all because I sold him high.. the Freeman owner probably wouldn’t make that trade after Hunt has a sub-par week, and realize that Freeman has been a reliable RB1 for a few years now. That’s just an example, but here are some players from Week 1 you should seriously consider buying low on.

Ty Montgomery

Montgomery did have a good game, but you still have a chance to get him because he didn’t blow up yet. He played 90% of snaps, which is absolutely ridiculous for a RB in today’s game. They played against the Seahawks, so I wouldn’t have expected Montgomery to have a monster game. But if you throw in a low-end 3-down RB in Carlos Hyde (who had a very similar ADP to Ty) + a high-end WR3 who did well this week, you might end up with Montgomery, who has a floor of a high-end RB2 in PPR and a ceiling of a high-end RB1, as long as he continues to be on the field like he was this past Sunday.

Carlos Hyde

I just spoke about trading away Carlos Hyde, but that’s because he’s a valuable commodity that you can actually trade for Ty Montgomery. If you can’t get Montgomery, Hyde should be a good replacement. He was on the field 78% of 49ers snaps, and was playing in negative game script while the 49ers were down. In a PPR league, those 6 catches on 6 targets makes you very happy to know that he’s not going to be taken off the field in passing situations. When Hyde is healthy, he’s a great RB. 3-down backs are the stalwarts of your team; if he’s your RB2 or RB3, you’re in great shape. Get him before he scores a TD. One idea would be packaging a guy like Jonathan Stewart + a WR3 to get him, since Stewart had a game on Sunday that is probably better than most games he will have this year.

Isaiah Crowell

The Steelers front seven is very good, and Crowell found out the hard way. Here’s the thing; Crowell is going to get a ton of more opportunity this year than he did last year. In this past game, Duke Johnson played out of the slot as a WR 90% of snaps. This left Crowell to stay on the field on third downs and in passing situations. Crowell couldn’t get much done on the ground, but he still got two catches for 33 yards, which is what saved his day. He had 40 catches last year, and that should go up with the increased field time. This wasn’t the game for him, but I do expect him to have much better performances behind that revamped offensive line and with a QB who can run and open up lanes between the tackles.

DeMarco Murray

There was so much skepticism about DeMarco Murray continuing his dominance in the offseason that it might be a little easier than you think to trade for him. The questions were basically surrounding Derrick Henry and him having a much bigger role, and when you look at the box score, one might think that’s the reason why, but it wasn’t. The Titans were forced to pass the ball way more than they wanted to in this game against the Raiders, since they were down most of the game. That offensive line is still good, and Murray was still on the field for all the important downs and is their main workhorse. He still saw 72% of snaps, and he out-touched Derrick Henry 18-6. If Murray is your RB2, you will be in great shape this year.

Ameer Abdullah

Abdullah had a game to forget against the Cardinals. They held him in check, and forced the Lions to beat them through the air, which they did. You can probably get Abdullah very cheap, and we want to go after him because of the amount of touches he will get in a game. In this game, he had 18 touches on 15 carries and 3 catches. I don’t expect him to average 2 yards per carry every game, and he should be able to have a solid floor in PPR leagues all year long. The Lions are a pass-first team, so Abdullah won’t have as many stacked boxes and should be able to find running lanes between the tackles and off the edge. Marvin Jones is a guy who can get deep, and with the new weapon in Kenny Golladay, defenses are going to be forced to play back a bit. He’ll be a great flex option in PPR, and I think he can work himself into being a just-fine RB2 in a 12-team PPR league. Abdullah also was in a few red zone packages inside the 5-yard line in that game, so I wouldn’t count him out of seeing some end zone work.

Keenan Allen

Allen had a very tough matchup against Chris Harris, who’s one of the best, if not the best, nickel corners in the game. I benched Allen everywhere, but if someone didn’t bench him, they’re very disappointed in someone who is supposed to have a solid floor. Well, he will have a very solid floor all year long in PPR leagues, especially if he gets 10+ targets like he did this past Sunday. Allen remains Rivers’ favorite target, as we’ve seen in this game and in the preseason. He’s a guy who can be the base of your team every week, and you can build on him to create your ceiling with other higher risk players. He will be a key piece in your roster construction week in and week out.

Terrelle Pryor

Terrelle Pryor’s game could have been so much bigger if it wasn’t for some key misses by Cousins and some drops by Pryor. He had a few long looks into the end zone that didn’t work out, and with his 11 targets, Cousins’ is obviously favoring him more than any other receiver, including Jordan Reed. Pryor continuously beat his defender, but his lack of WR experience is obvious on drops and certain routes that he runs. With that said, Pryor’s talent and ability is apparent, and Cousins is looking for him on intermediate routes and big plays. He should have a solid floor with this type of target share, along with the ceiling that he could’ve had in Week 1.